Pope Francis recently placed excessive restrictions on the Traditional Latin Mass (TLM) with a motu proprio called Traditionis Custodes. TLM communities were shocked, to say the least. The traditionalist website OnePeterFive now features a three-part series by Peter Kwasniewski — many of whose books have been reviewed in our pages by Thomas Storck — that counsels and rallies the confused and perhaps discouraged TLM faithful. Kwasniewski’s series is commendable and useful even for Catholics who for whatever reason do not attend a TLM.

A link to Part III of the series is below, and Part III offers links to Parts I and II. Part III, entitled “Gearing Up for the Long Campaign,” is of particular interest because Kwasniewski recommends concrete actions for continuing to live the Faith, as well as “helpful aids for passing on the Faith in family customs and lessons.” Advice on playing the long game applies to all of us. Some highlights:

• Many Latin Masses are still available, of course, and the faithful should continue to attend where possible, even if it “may take more driving.”
• Families can still ask to have children baptized, and possibly even confirmed, in the old rite, as “no formal attempt has been made to control” these sacraments.
• Kwasniewski urges all to “pray some portion of the traditional Divine Office” and recommends books for this, noting that “any of these traditional office books is vastly superior to the Liturgy of the Hours, which was ruined even more extensively in the liturgical reform than the Mass itself was.” This is an area of post-Vatican II reform that deserves more explanation; I, for one, am interested to know more on this.
• For those with no TLM “within a reasonable driving distance,” Kwasniewski recommends seeking out “an Eastern Catholic parish or an Anglican Ordinariate parish.”
• “Canceled” priests can be invited into homes to say Mass. We can support these men with “friendship, meals, and aid.”

The link: https://onepeterfive.com/gearing-up-for-the-long-campaign/